''Sardinella pacifica'' is a species of marine fish of the

sardines Sardine and pilchard are common names for various species of small, oily forage fish in the herring suborder Clupeoidei. The term "sardine" was first used in English during the early 15th century; a somewhat dubious etymology says it come ...

in the family

Clupeidae Clupeidae is a family of clupeiform ray-finned fishes, comprising, for instance, the herrings and sprats. Many members of the family have a body protected with shiny cycloid (very smooth and uniform) scales, a single dorsal fin, and a fusiform ...

belonging to the genus ''

Sardinella ''Sardinella'' is a genus of fish in the family Dorosomatidae found in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans. They are abundant in warmer waters of the tropical and subtropical oceans. Adults are generally coastal, schooling, marine fish but ...

'', which is endemic to the waters around the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. This species was first described in 2019, with 21 preserved specimens, discovered and known only in the

. It is characterized with centrally discontinuous

striae Stretch marks, also known as striae () or striae distensae, are a form of scarring on the skin with an off-color hue. Over time, they may diminish, but will not disappear completely. Striae are caused by tearing of the dermis during periods of ...

in its lateral scales, dorsal fin origin with a dark spot, lower gill rakers which is more than 70 on the first gill arch, eight rays of the pelvic fin, and 17-18 prepelvic and 12-13 postpelvic scutes, all of which it closely resembled that of ''

Sardinella fimbriata ''Sardinella'' is a genus of fish in the family Dorosomatidae found in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans. They are abundant in warmer waters of the tropical and subtropical oceans. Adults are generally coastal, schooling, marine fish but ...

''. However, the two species differs in that, ''S. pacifica'' have lower count of lateral scales (38-41 compared to ''S. fimbriata'', 44–46), lower count of pseudobranchial filaments(14-19 compared to ''S. fimbriata'', 19–22), postpelvic scutes(12-13 compared to ''S. fimbriata'', 13–14), and shorter lower jaw(10.4–11.6% of standard length compared to that of ''S. fimbriata'' which is 11.1–12.2% of standard length). The fish's gill rakers was considered as the species adaptation to Philippine waters.

Distribution and habitat

''Sardinella pacifica'' was currently known in the

particularly in Quezon, Sorsogon, Samar and the Manila Bay.

Etymology

The

scientific nomenclature Nomenclature (, ) is a system of names or terms, or the rules for forming these terms in a particular field of arts or sciences. (The theoretical field studying nomenclature is sometimes referred to as ''onymology'' or ''taxonymy'' ). The principl ...

uses the word ''pacifica'' which refers to the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

, with the purpose of distinguishing the species from ''S. fimbriata'' which it was confused with, thereby, now restricting the latter to Indian Ocean.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q85799738 Sardinella Fish of the Philippines Fish described in 2019